Arsenal crash out of Europa League as Man United reach quarter-finals

Arsenal have been knocked out of the Europa League following a 5-3 defeat to Sporting Lisbon on penalties after their round-of-16 second leg encounter at the Emirates Stadium ended in a 1-1 stalemate on Thursday night.

The first leg had finished 2-2. And with no away goals rule, the game went into extra-time but there was still no winner until the lottery of penalties was drawn.

After a bright start from their Portuguese visitors, Arsenal showed their status as English Premier League (EPL) leaders to take the lead on 19 minutes when Gabriel Martinelli latched onto Jorginho’s through ball but saw his shot saved, and Grant Xhaka applied the finishing touch on the rebound.

Sporting Lisbon continued to show flashes of brilliance and it paid off on 62 minutes when Pedro Goncalves collected an intercepted pass and — spotting Aaron Ramsdale off his line — sent a looping shot from just after the halfway line that went in beyond Ramsdale.

Both sides had chances to win it in normal time and extra time but couldn’t.

Antonio Adan, the 35-year-old Sporting goalkeeper, provided the crucial penalty save in added time to ensure Arsenal would not have a chance at continental glory this season.

Elsewhere, Manchester United defeated Real Betis 1-0 in Spain to secure a 5-1 aggregate win and a place in the quarter-finals of Europa League.

Marcus Rashford scored the winner to continue his red-hot scoring form.